University of Connecticut Athletics
UConn vs. Providence Post Game Quotes
2/20/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 20, 2010
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Head Coach Geno Auriemma
On chemistry between Tina Charles and Maya Moore
"You know, chemistry's such a big part of basketball and you develop that over a period of time. You know, because both of them can score, they draw a lot of attention to each other. And it's easy for them to be good passers. And because they're both unselfish, they can single-handedly just win a game, and certainly combined. When we're operating like that and they let us throw the ball to those two on a regular basis, it's going to be really, really, really hard to beat us."
On Moore's fast start.
"...Our game plan doesn't change game-to-game. We don't really talk about there being something particular or someone particular that we want to emphasize going into a game. I just thought Maya would get a lot of opportunities if she would just move around and keep herself active and make herself hard to guard and not pass up any opportunities. Fortunate for us, and for her, that those opportunities were available early and that that kind of set the tone for the rest of the game. You know, she's not shooting as good of a percentage as I would like for her to shoot. And I don't know whether some of those are rushed or some of those are ill-advised at times. But, I do know that we did talk about - she and I - about getting more shots. That 12 is not nearly enough. So, if we can get her and Tina somewhere between 15 and 20 on a regular basis, that would be pretty good."
On finding a balance for the players between not being selfish and not being too unselfish:
"Well, I don't think we have to worry about Maya. Maya's never going to pass up a lot of open shots. But, you know, if you're going to bring this many good players on your team, then obviously something's going to give. And if you don't have unselfish players, it's not going to work. And sometimes, you do have to remind them that you don't have to pass up an open shot just because you felt like you shot it the other three times. If you're open, you're open, you shoot it. I would much rather have that than tell somebody that they're shooting too much when they're not open. Fortunately for us, we haven't had that issue."
On what makes it possible to have the three best players on the team who are able to put egos aside and instead play well together:
"That's probably a better question for them. If they weren't able to play together, if they weren't like that, if they didn't have that as part of their personality, they wouldn't be here and then we wouldn't have to worry about that. The fact that they're both, generally, unselfish people and they're unselfish as players - there's no room for their selfishness to come out. Sometimes, on the basketball court, or sometimes in any situation, you leave room for people to be selfish because you have a selfish type of program or you have a program that's designed to show off one or two people and everything's about them all the time. But, because we don't do things like that, there's no room for that selfishness to go. So you just don't see it. And once you're Maya Moore and you pass the ball or you're Tina Charles and you pass the ball, that sets the tone for every single person in our program. That you're going to pass the ball and you're going to be unselfish. I've had players in the past - and it's through no fault of their own -... whatever pressures they're getting from somewhere else is what ultimately drives them to be selfish. Most of the time, it's not just them. They're pretty good about it. But once you get the other people around them in their personal life, that's when it starts to get screwed up. So fortunately these two don't have those issues."
Junior Forward Maya Moore
Do you feel that it is your and Tina Charles' role to be leaders for this team every game?
"Absolutely; one of our roles is bringing energy and bringing everything that we know we can do onto the court. I think that as upperclassmen and as mature players, you have to come out with the mindset that I have to do it every night or else it is not going to get done. We know that our teammates are going to do their part and can get it done, but I take the mindset that I have to do it every night; I have to bring it."
Can you talk about what you see when you are out there with Tina Charles when she is posting up and getting position? "I feel like we have the best weapon in the country with Tina, so when she is open, she is working hard for position and she is doing her part, then we absolutely have to feed her the ball. That is my responsibility when I see her open, to reward her, because it lifts our whole team. She is one of our emotional leaders. When she's excited and finishing and one's, you can see it on the bench. We all get up and excited. She is a key part of why we are able to go on runs. I love feeding her the ball down low. And, in basketball we have this thing called an assist, so I'm not too upset when she scores."
You hit your first three shots, was it a point to start of quickly today?
"I just really wasn't thinking a lot today. It was one of those things where we did a pretty good job on defense and we started running and transitioning more. We have to get back to being more of a transition team. When we do that it's my favorite type of basketball, when we are out there running. Just catch and shoot; that's pretty automatic."
Senior Tina Charles
How enjoyable is it to play when the two of you are shooting the ball and feeling it offensively like you were tonight? "When we were on the bench, Meghan made the point Maya and I were playing well together and I think is the first time in a long time that Maya and I were in a groove and were able to find each other. I was screening for her, and she dumped the ball down to me or I was rebounding off of her shots. We just really clicked today."
What was different about today?
"At practice, coach made an emphasis that we had to find our shooters. Maya was out there so we made an emphasis to screen for her and then we had to post up hard. It is just little things like that and then carrying it over to the games."
The general consensus is that the two best players are sitting next to each other right now. That is so unusual for that to be on one school, one program, in one year. Does ego ever come into it? How do you deal with it?
"For me personally, I try to be the best player at my position. That is how I look at it. Every night I want to show that I am the best center and that I am improving on something. I know that is definitely the same for Maya. We really don't pay any attention to that, we just go out there and play our game."
Head Coach Phil Seymore
On Symone Roberts's first season
She's coming along nicely. Like she said she's is still trying to improve in certain areas. I told her I have a lot of confidence in her ability and I want her to get the best out of what she has. I think she can be a star in this league if she continues to improve. She's not a star yet but if she continues to work on her game I think the sky is the limit for her. This is the best year we've had probably since 1992 and she's a big part of that. I just want her to continue to work on her game and to improve, she's a pleasure to coach.
Freshman Symone Roberts
On her play this season
I feel like my freshman year is going really well. I feel like I'm getting better in a lot of areas quicker than I thought I would, like my ball handling and shooting and I'm really happy with that.
What can you take away from this game, coming down to the last couple days of your season?
Just to play harder and be strong with the ball at all times and don't give up on plays just keep hustling. When you lived in New Britain, did you come to a lot of games here? No, I watched them on T.V a lot but I never came to see any games What was it like playing in front of 12,000 people? It was weird, because I'm not use to it, but it was fun. I liked the fans, they were intense and I kind of feed of that. How has the transition been from scoring so much in high school to coming into this league and not being able to perform at the same level? In high school I just did what my team needed me to do. If they needed me to play defense, I'd play defense, if they needed me to score, I would score. So whatever the team needs me to do, I'll do, they just need to tell me.
